


She Has A Tattoo

by orphan_account



Series: A Lot To Learn [2]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-31
Updated: 2013-08-31
Packaged: 2017-12-25 03:52:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/948303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oliver catches a glimpse of Felicity's tattoo and hears the story behind it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	She Has A Tattoo

If Felicity ever wanted to accompany Oliver and John on missions, fight training was mandatory.

 _You don't have a choice_ , Felicity told herself as she landed face first on the mat. _Suck it up._

"Come on, Felicity. Focus!", Oliver instructed as she picked herself up.

"I should be training with Digg", she only half whined.

Oliver glared. "Are you saying I'm a bad teacher?"

Felicity sighed. "No, of course not. Digg is just... less intense."

Oliver grabbed the training sticks and tossed one at her, which she caught. Barely.

"Intense is good. This is life or death."

"I know I have to learn to protect myself", she grunted as he advanced on her and their sticks clashed. "But this is Starling City, not the island!"

She didn’t raise her stick fast enough and Oliver's made contact with her side, sending her to the ground in pain.

She held back a cry as Oliver kneeled next to her in worry.

His voice was angry, but his eyes looked remorseful. "Dammit, Felicity.  You have to pay attention!"

She groaned in pain. "Maybe I should just take a self defense course at the gym."

He shook his head as he helped her sit up. He led her to the exam table, and gestured for her to sit on it. She carefully pulled herself onto the table, hissing in pain.

“Take off your shirt”, Oliver instructed as he grabbed an ice pack.

Felicity looked at him in shock. “What!?”

“I need to see the damage, Felicity.”

She knew he was right, but did not like the idea of being so exposed within touching distance of Oliver. She took a deep breath and pull up on her shirt. She yelped in pain.

“Ow! Ow ow ow!”

“Stop”, Oliver told her, quietly chuckling. “I’ll help you.” He grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it up to her chest, then helped her slip the arm on her damaged side out first. Then the next arm, before pulling it over her head and off.

She was wearing a pink sports bra. She blushed crimson as Oliver looked her over. His eyes settled on her side, where there was a red mark the dimension of his stick.

She craned her head to look, and grimaced at the sight. “That’s gonna bruise, isn’t it?”

Oliver nodded. He grabbed the ice pack and went to apply it. Felicity closed her eyes in anticipation of the cold.

It didn’t come.

Instead, she felt Oliver scoot her sports bra up by her ribs.

She jerked away from the touch. “What are you doing?”, she yelped.

He dropped his hand. “Sorry”, he said, looking away from her. “I…”, he turned back to face her. “You have a tattoo.”

“Oh”, Felicity breathed out in relief. Sexy times with Oliver Queen were not on her schedule for today, especially not after he hit her with a stick. “Yeah, I do.”

She brought her hand to her sports bra, and pushed it up enough to reveal the full image. It was a small compass.

“A compass?”, Oliver asked inquisitively as he looked it over.

Felicity ducked her head. “Kinda lame, huh?”

Oliver shook his head. “No. I was just wondering why…”

“Well”, she explained, pulling her sports bra back down, “I got it when I was 19. My friends and I went out after the end of a particularly grueling semester. We all decided to get tattoos to celebrate. My friend Kelly got a rose on her hip. Lisa got a feather on her foot. Tim got a cross on his upper back. Then it was my turn.”

She hopped down from the bed, taking the ice pack from Oliver. He handed it to her wordlessly and watched as she applied it while walking to her computer chair. When she was seated comfortably, she continued.

“I had no idea what to get. I didn’t see anything in the design books that I liked. Then I…” She started to laugh. “Oh, this is embarrassing. Did you ever see the Disney movie Pocahontas?”

Oliver nodded, confused at the connection.

“Well, It’s one of my favorites, and there’s a compass in that movie. It appears in Pocahontas’ dream as a spinning arrow, pointing to John Smith. To the path she’s supposed to be on. At the time, I was kinda… not lost necessarily, but without purpose, I guess. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life. I liked the idea of finding my path, and I remembered my grandma telling me to follow my heart when I was in doubt. So, I got a compass with the arrow pointing towards my heart.”

She was looking down shyly, avoiding looking at him while she waited for his reaction.

“I like it.”

She looked up in surprise. “Really?”

“Really”, he reaffirmed, as he grabbed the sticks that were laying on the mats and put them away. She watched him silently until he turned back to her.

“Until that’s done healing, you’re excused from fight training.” He grinned mischievously at her. “Back to the computers, Pocahontas.”

“Ooh”, she glared at him as she kicked out her leg. She was too far away to hit him, but he jumped back nonetheless. She couldn’t help the smile that played at her mouth as she watched him laugh. “You’re gonna pay for that, Oliver Queen. Just you wait.”

**Author's Note:**

> felicityholysmoak.tumblr.com


End file.
